At 09:13 PM 2/17/00 +0100, Phillip Helbig wrote:
>> I agree that if you want to extend the current evaluation mode rather than
>> introducing a new one, then the new notation must be used for grouping
>> without forcing evaluation. I find this approach less attractive because I
>> think you most often want to group without forcing evaluation. Thus, if
>> you wish to introduce the new distinction into an existing code, you would
>> need to convert nearly all of the grouping parentheses to the new
>> bracketing mechanism. This seems like a lot of work to me. In contrast,
>> if you add a second evaluation mode, you can simply switch to the new mode
>> and add the forced evaluation bracketing in those few places where you feel
>> you need it.
>
>If the new parentheses [] or {} are to be used for grouping, then just
>convert ALL parentheses to those and then deconvert the ones for forced
>evaluation (and :-( routine arguments---hey, maybe that's a reason to
>have {} for routine arguments in the future; it's more of a "grouping"
>anyway).
That qualifies as easy if the new brackets can be used as an alternative to
parentheses in all the places where parentheses are currently used,
including declarations, subscripts, procedure references, statement syntax,
etc. I suppose that possible, but I don't think it probable.
--
Kurt W. Hirchert [log in to unmask]
Center for Computational Sciences +606-257-8748
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